Love Story (Everlark Fanfiction)

Stronger with You

***Peeta's POV***

Just after Katniss  and I sang the anthem we have permission to leave and I excuse myself to go to the bathroom. I don't really need to go but I really need to clear my head because singing reminds me of her. And what's better for that than washing my face?  Today is a hard day for me. Two years ago I experienced the worst day in life and I can't stop the flashback once it comes.

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(Flashback)

I am on the park with Katniss, we're both fourteen years old and we're talking while she's climbing a tree and I just sit there to draw the park's beauty. Obviously, including the most beautiful element of my surroundings: Katniss Everdeen aka The Love of My Life. I'm smiling and she's giggling at some cheesy joke I just made. "Peet, your phone is ringing" Kat says breaking the concentration I had on my new drawing and in her laugh. "Thanks Kat." I say smiling and picking up my phone.

I check the ID on my phone and is an unknown number but I know it's from District 9. "I think it's my grandma." I say smiling at the thought of my grandma calling. "Hello!" I say happily. "Uhm... Mr. Peeta Mellark?" I hear an unknown woman's voice for me say. "Yes" I say cautiously. " I am a nurse from District 9. I am so sorry to inform you this but Mrs.Ruby, widow of Mellark, just died from depression. I am sorry for your loss. You and your family have to come in a week for the reading of her will. She said that when she died, she wanted you to be the first to know, and for me to tell you that she loved you. She said she would have wished to see you again but she knew that was impossible." the woman says. I am feeling numb. I am processing the information but I know in that back of my mind what's actually happening. Katniss comes down of the tree and hugs me. That's when I notice I am crying. "Peeta, are you okay?" she asks clearly worried. "Sh-She's de-de-dead" I manage to say. "Who's dead?" Katniss says rubbing my back. "My gra-gra-grandma" I say between sobs. I promised myself that no one should see me cry but, well, Kat is the exception given the circumstances which I can't handle it. I hug Katniss tightly and bury my face in the crook of her neck. I guess that I am only human and can only take so much. I have to handle my mother abusing me physically, having to hate my best friend and love of my life and see her only in secret, the pressure of school and having to have good grades to get an scholarship, the distance my eldest brother has taken from me, and now the death of grandma. My grandma was very important to me even though I heven't seen her in two years. Katniss just hugs me and rubs my back while saying "Peeta don't worry she's in a better place now." soothingly but I notice that her voice just cracked.

"Sorry Katniss. You weren't supposed to see me like this" I say ten minutes after, when I finally had calm down. "Don't worry. I'll always be here for you and never forget that." she says rubbing my back and kissing my cheek.

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(Back to Reality)

I am now in the bathroom looking at myself in the mirror. I notice that I have been crying because of my tear stained face and red puffy eyes. Crying is not something I usually do, but when it comes to this topic, I am weak. I always told myself that you never have to cry over the past, but my grandma's death is the exception. She was the one who taught me how to bake, who sang lullabies for me to sleep after a nightmare, and who took care of me when no one else will. When my mom started beating me at the age of ten, my dad took me and my brothers to my grandma's house and she took care of us. I let a single tear escape my eyes and then the other tears start falling like a waterfall. In a desperate way, I splash my face with  the cold water from the tap, hoping the water will calm me down.